Does UC Davis consider alternate majors?

So I recently submitted my application to UC Davis, and I applied for Biomedical Engineering as my first choice major and Undeclared Social Science as my alternate major. After I submitted, I called the admission office and they said they don’t consider alternate majors. I decided to double check, so I called a few days later, and this time they said they DO consider alternate majors. I researched it a little bit and on Davis’ website under freshman application tips, they say to choose an alternate major in a different field of study. The reference guide for the UCs http://admission.universityofcalifornia.edu/counselors/files/quick-reference-2018.pdf on page 24 says that Davis occasionally admits to the alternate major. I also found an old admission presentation video from about 8 years ago for UC Davis in which the admission rep says they automatically consider alternate majors. I looked around CC, and saw users who said they were admitted under their alternate major. Most of the applicants I saw applied 8-10 years ago however. So it seems clear Davis USED to consider alternate majors. I even saw on an old CC thread that a UC Davis admission rep said they always consider alternate majors for freshmen. I don’t know how likely it is their policy changed in the last 8 years. I did see a few users on CC who applied to Davis in the last couple years and said they were admitted into their alternate major. I also saw several more who said they were admitted of the waitlist into their alternate major. So I’m really confused. Do any of you know for sure if UC Davis considers alternate majors? I’m wondering because Davis was one of my top schools.

UCD:
Admission decisions are made based upon the qualifications of the applicant pool and the number of available spaces within each academic area:
• College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences admits by college
• College of Biological Sciences admits by college
• College of Letters and Science admits by division within the college
• (Humanities, Arts and Cultural Studies; Mathematics and Physical Sciences; Social Sciences)
• College of Engineering admits by academic department
Students applying as “undeclared” or “undeclared/exploratory” are considered within the college/division to which they applied.

Applicants are encouraged to list an alternate major, but not in the
same area as the primary major (e.g., Computer Science Engineering with alternate Computer Science in the College of L&S). Occasionally, we admit to the alternate major.

@Gumbymom Ok thanks for the info. I guess that means I still could get into Undeclared Social Science if i’m rejected from BME because it is in a different field of study.

@Gumbymom My D was planning on applying to UCD’s College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences with her 1st choice being “Animal Science” and her 2nd choice being “Animal Biology”. However, if I understand your above post correctly, if she does not get into her 1st choice: “Animal Science”, she’s basically being rejected by the College of Agricultural for all majors, so there would be no chance of getting into another major in the same college such as “Animal Biology” (Is this correct?)

  • Also, I’m assuming that it won’t make a difference on her chances of acceptance into UCD whether she lists “Animal Biology” as her 1st choice and “Animal Science” as her 2nd choice or vice-versa, because they’re in the same college? (Would it?)

Thanks for your advice in advance!

@Gregmacd: UCD rarely considers alternate majors but there are exceptions. If an alternate major is considered it might be for an applicant the selects an Engineering major as a first choice and a major in the College of Letters and Sciences such as Math for their alternate.
The College of Agricultural and Environmental Science does not admit by major so you are correct it will not make a difference if she selects Animal Biology or Animal Science.

is WFCB and Ecology too similar? My primary is WFCB but I don’t what should be alternative

I think Wildlife, fish etc. and ecology are in the same College of Agriculture. So my understanding is that if you don’t get into Wildlife, you won’t get into Ecology.

So the backup major should be in another college like Biological Sciences, Letters and Science, etc

@CUTSHOT: WFC is in the College of Agriculture and Environmental Science. Evolution, Ecology and Biodiversity is in the College of Biological Sciences.

2 different colleges however, the College of Biological Sciences is more competitive and selective than the College of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences.

Ecological Restoration is in the College of AG/ENV SCI. Both colleges admit into the college regardless of major.

Do you know which of the Colleges that are relatively less competitive and selective than the rest?

@CUTSHOT. See my PM

@CUTSHOT:

To update my above post, I thought by “Ecology” you were referring to “Ecological Management and Restoration”, which is in the College of Agriculture. However, if by “Ecology” you mean “Evolution, Ecology and Biodiversity” then, I’m in agreement with @Gumbymom that “Ecology” is in the College of Biological Sciences. Here’s a list of which majors are in which colleges:

https://www.ucdavis.edu/majors/college/